The Athletic Football Show: A show about the NFL - NFL Monday Hangover Week 7 — Dak and Tua return, the Titans keep on truckin', and the Ravens spawn more questions about their offense

Episode Date: October 25, 2022

Robert Mays and Mike Sando dig into four more games we didn't talk about on Sunday night on this episode of The Athletic Football Show. The guys consider Dak's and Tua's respective returns, the Colts' changing of the guard at QB, questions about the Ravens' offense, the Titans' unique ability to do what they do, and more.Follow Robert on Twitter: @robertmaysFollow Mike on Twitter: @SandoNFLSubscribe to The Athletic Football Show...AppleSpotifyYouTube2:30 Colts bench Matt Ryan5:15 How did the Colts get here22:00 The Titans do it again31:04 Miami's offense in Tua's return38:00 What do we make of the Steelers?43:11 Dak's back51:28 Are the Lions disappointing?59:56 Concerned about the Ravens offense? Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the athletic football show. To the athletic football show, I'm Robert Mays. Joining me today, the Athletic Zone, Mike, how you doing, man? I am doing well. One of an eventful weekend and an eventful Monday so far, too. It certainly is. We're going to dig into the Monday hangover today, talk about some of the games that we did not hit on the Sunday night recap podcast.

Chat of Little Dolphin Steelers. Talk about Dax's Return with Dallas, a controversial ending in Ravens Browns. But before we dig into it into. any of that. Let us start with the biggest news of the day that applies to a game we were already going to talk about. Matt Ryan has been benched by the Indianapolis Colts. This comes independent of the news about his grade two shoulder separation, I think is what they're calling it. It wouldn't have mattered. If he were healthy, he still would be going to the bench in favor of

Sam Ellinger. That is a sentence, Mike Sando. I feel like Jim Eursay had one of those owners meetings moments, like when Jerry Jones said, don't F with me to Robert Kraft. I think he said, don't F with me, we're doing this. I just don't believe that this was an organic decision made by the head coach, who, by the way, in the locker room, or after the locker room session yesterday, Sunday was like, yeah, you know, shoot, I got to call that better. I got to get that in there sooner for me. He's covering for Matt Ryan on an interception or two. And we all know Frank Reich. He loves the partnership with the veteran quarterback. I mean, that's what they've done. Rivers, Wentz, who he's with.

They got guys who are sort of friends of Frank. And I just don't see after seven games with all the stuff going on around him that he would be doing this. Do you agree? Yeah. And just hard to believe that we've reached this moment. Like even if you were relatively down on the Colts and the idea that Matt Ryan, this version of Matt Ryan, maybe wouldn't be a huge upgrade over what Carson Wentz was last year. The thought that by week eight, Matt Ryan could be going to the. bench in favor of Sam

Ellinger and that's where the Colts could be. That was still far enough away that to me it's not even fathomable. But what Frank Reich said today that I thought was particularly interesting in the same vein of covering for his quarterback. He said, we didn't hold up our end of the bargain with Matt.

We promised him the best running game in the league. We promised him really good protection. And that didn't happen. And I think that's kind of where I want to steer this conversation about the Colts is that we've arrived in this moment because everything about how we understand the Colts has deteriorated to this point. It's not just the play of Matt Ryan, but it's every aspect of how they've built this roster,

especially on the offensive side of the ball, has taken us to where we are right now. Yep. And before I address that, what do you think Sam Elginer, who's never played needs? Do you think he needs an offensive line in a run game and all that stuff? Or you think that's without ever playing in the NFL, we're going to commit to nine freaking games or 10 or whatever it is, I had 10 games. We could talk about that because I think that brings us to what happens after this. But before we do that, I want to talk about how we got here and what that means.

So the team, I believe, was built properly to win with Andrew Luck. I think we all agreed in the early stages of Chris Ballard that, hey, they were fortifying the line because he was shell-shocked, basically. I mean, he was really taking too many hits. And so they built the line for him. They were building the defense enough. They didn't need an amazing defense because they had luck, who was top five quarterback when he's healthy.

But they had to have the line to protect him, and they built one. But what we found out and why Zach Kiefer, our friend and colleague, has a six-part podcast series that everyone should listen to, it was too late. He was hurt. He lost his will to play. He retired. So then they had this team that just needed a quarterback.

But this regime, I think a criticism or at least an analysis of Chris Bauer, and these guys is they've always been a team in it for the long haul. They've never made that many moves other than the Wentz move, but even that wasn't completely all in. They haven't been a team that makes many moves for now. DeForest Buckner, you could throw in there, but I felt like they sort of stayed the course and tried to plug these quarterbacks into this roster they still thought was good.

And then meanwhile, over time, that window they had to win big with luck, closed and is closing now, and they didn't go get a left tackle when everyone said they had to have one. They didn't go get additional speed at wide receiver when people said they needed to have it. And they really didn't even go after a quarterback. The whole Ryan thing, they got rid of Carson Wentz, remember, without a plan. I mean, a plan, they didn't have an alternative. They were waiting. They were, they just, their offseason move was to subtract Wentz. And oh, Matt Ryan became available. hell, let's do that.

But in the meantime, they've atrophied enough around the areas they built up to win with luck to put themselves in this weird place to where, like, I think I wrote on my column today, they probably could have won if any one of those things was a little bit off. But when you're trying to win with Ryan being a little bit off, with the line being off, with the run game being off, with the receiver position being okay, but not having that speed, your 3-3-1, and because your owner he's tired of looking at it, here we are.

I think I made the mistake of treating the last couple of Colts off seasons with this idea of, well, look at what they were with Rivers in 2020, and look at how close they got and look how competitive they were. They were a top-ton offense by the end of the season. And you drop Carson Wentz in there last year and you still have a really, really good running game. And, you know, if they improve from,

the uncertainty of Carson Wentz to the relative certainty of Matt Ryan, where does that bring their offense if you bring back the running game? There were aspects of the 2020 offense and the 2021 offense that I thought would just remain stable over time and you would just change out the quarterback. And that did not happen. The offensive line has seriously taken steps back to the point that it's one of the worst in the NFL on a game-to-game basis right now because of the pronounced weaknesses they have at left tackle and whatever position they're swapping between on the right side, whether it's

right guard when Brayton Smith's at right tackle or right tackle when Brayton Smith's at right guard. Those holes have become huge. So that's my mistake. And that's why I think where I was wrong about this is that I was like, all right, the infrastructure is still similar enough where you're just swapping out the quarterback. And that's not true. And I think one of the reasons that the infrastructure isn't the same and it's not as strong is because the Colts found themselves in this terrible situation where they didn't have a quarterback worth going all in for. So they didn't have a sense of urgency in building up the supporting cast. But because they didn't have a quarterback going all in for, the supporting cast needed to be

really good in order to sustain this model of quarterbacks. I think the plan was to them to just have this really good situation with nice pieces around the quarterback and a really hospitable place to play because of Frank Reich. and eventually they would get the guy in there who could take them over the top as they stayed 9, 10, 11 wins. But the lack of urgency in building everything else up because they didn't feel like it was time has torn down that infrastructure to the point that it's no longer a hospitable or attractive place forever the quarterback is going to be. And when you have a quarterback who cannot create whatsoever, when things go wrong, you need one out of three times or whatever the percentage is that guy to make something good happen. and everything has to be exactly right for Matt Ryan. You know, he otherwise, he's going to have people in his laugh and he can't get out of the way.

And when you think about what they've done, luck, of course, could, I think that's why he got hurt, partly, but luck was amazing on the move, run, pick up, third and 13, run for 15. He could do all of that stuff. They went to Rivers, can't do any of that stuff, but could get it out quick, still had a lot left. Probably, I think, should have brought him back a second year. They tucked themselves into Carson Wenz, but Rivers would have played in that year. I think if Rivers had wanted to come back, they probably would have taken Rivers back, wouldn't they? No, I think he wanted to come.

I think he was open to coming back, and they were looking to do something with a little bit longer term. And I do believe that. And Wence was somebody who had been with, was younger, perceived upside. Frank was with him. Let's do that. I think that Rivers would have played if they would have pursued him to play. That's heartbreaking because that's part of the reason that they're in this situation is because trading that first round pick for Carson Wentz is the biggest miscalculation in this entire thing. They had multiple chances to go out and get a left tackle.

In 2021, they're in range to draft Christian Derisaw. They draft Quiddipa, who has not been a world beater by any stretch. And then if they keep the pick in the Carson Wentz trade, they're in range to potentially get a Trevor Penning or somebody like that. I'm not playing all these sliding doors moments is often a little bit misleading. But I do think that the lack of resources because they made the Wents trade and then having to get off of the Wens trade so quickly, that's how we get into this place. And now I don't know what happens next. Like, I truly don't know how this all ends because seemingly they're going to be bad enough with Sam Ellenger, I would guess, to be in range of a top five pick and in a position to possibly draft a quarterback. But are Frank Reich and Chris Ballard going to get to oversee what that process looks like?

I don't know. Should they? I don't think that both are. You know, I don't think that both of them are. I feel like what we see is when things go bad, we see an overreaction by the owner. And so think of the Wentz situation. Look, it was a tough year with the COVID stuff. And then, you know, whatever, they lost to Jacksonville.

That was tough. But yet, you know, the 27 touchdown, seven interceptions. It was a little miragey. but he wasn't terrible. I mean, there were a lot of things you didn't like about him, but the owner's reaction was not only, I mean, this is like, this was like a crime of passion the way he went after him, you know? I mean, it was, they trashed the hell out of Carson Wentz.

It wasn't enough to just say, hey, you know, this didn't work out, we're going to go in the direction, we wish Carson the best. You just heard about what a zero Carson Wentz was. and they got rid of them, like I said, without an alternative. They just wanted the addition by subtraction. So now what happens? You're seven weeks in. It's going tough.

And Matt Ryan throws a couple terrible interceptions yesterday, and they lose to Tennessee. Well, it's not Matt Ryan's fault that there's five years of losing to Tennessee, and they're sick of it. And they're sick of, Ersay, sick of Brayble being the best team in the division. And he's sick of all this futility of quarterback, and he's sick of trusting the coach to get this quarterback or that quarterback. So instead of having a Everyone keep calm, it's a long season,

we just pull the whole plug. And by the way, Sam Onger could be terrible for three weeks and they might have to go to Matt Ryan. Why would you even say it's permanent for the year? It's not it's permanent until he plays bad. What are you talking about? Weird.

But they had to say, this is for the whole year. Who does that? I mean, I guess people do that, but this guy's never played. You think Matt Ryan never plays again. This guy gets hurt or plays terribly. There's a law now and you can't play them. It was just the whole handling of it to me feels like a heavy-handed ownership reaction,

even if it's the right move because I think Matt Ryan doesn't have to be held accountable. You make those plays, we can't have it. They lost for the first time in more than 20 years when the other team didn't score a touchdown on offense. That's on Matt Ryan to some degree when you're thrown pick six. but this is just like all of the sudden the nuclear button was pressed and we didn't even break the glass on the little fire alarm yet there's just so many different sliding doors moments i've never used that term already there's so many different sliding doors moments with this in the quarterback situation what if they just roll with chokobie percent for two more years Cleveland fans might have an opinion on that but they're probably in better

shape. If you never, if you just keep going with Jacoby percent until you have to get to a place where it's just like, all right, and we need a new quarterback and you have all the resources and you could have used that Carson Wentz pick to go get somebody on offense. Like all of these, all of this shuffling at this position has brought them ultimately to a worse place, a considerably worse place than where they started right after Andrew Luck retired. I don't even think that's arguable. So, in order to do that. order to make that happen, your offensive designing and play calling head coach has to want to go to

work with that guy. And I don't know what he thought of Jacoby Brissette, but I'm sure he thought he thought he was a great guy and tough. But he had other guys he wanted to call plays for and that he thought he could fix and help and all of that. And for the most part, hasn't been able to do that for a variety of reasons. This all feels to me, because I still think Frank Wreck is a pretty good offensive football coach. And I don't think we should just forget the fact that they were borderline top ten offenses over the last two years with Philip Rivers and Carson Wentz. And they did have the league's best run game last year. And they did have a really, really efficient offense by the end of the season during Rivers' first year. They just haven't figured out the quarterback

spot and that's led to problems elsewhere because you can't be this patient when you need a quarterback that needs everything built up around him. So are we going to get to a point where Frank Wright gets fired right now and potentially land somewhere else that maybe has a quarterback or can draft a young quarterback and he gets a second chance at this because I'd probably be willing to give it to him. Yeah, I think you have to figure out what makes a good play caller and what makes a good head coach. And, you know, I think the thing that gets you hired or gets is appealing to someone hiring someone

who calls the plays is their history working with quarterbacks. How did these quarterbacks do? Do they do better with this coach than they did with other players, with other coaches? And I don't know that that record is there for them. But it hasn't been terrible. Like you said, they've been top 10. Shoot, I drafted Jonathan Taylor second overall.

I don't know what I would say that. I drafted Jonathan Taylor second overall in my fantasy league. So, you know, I thought he was going to have a big year. I think that the version of Philip Rivers that they got, and even the version of Carson Wens that they got are probably really good versions of those quarterbacks at that time. And I think they're, and I mean, what they were supposed to be, I feel like those are positive results from those two guys in those two seasons.

Eventually, Wence fizzles out and he's bad, but look what Wence is doing in Philadelphia, or in Washington. Think about what Wentz was in Philadelphia. Carson Wentz, for good long stretches of last year with the Colts, was the best version of Carson Wens that we've seen in a couple of years. So I just don't think, and Matt Ryan now is just, it looks like he's totally shot. So maybe I'm just trying to explain this away for Frank Rick, but I also don't think he made the moves. He made the bets.

So they deserve, that deserves to get rest at his feet. But I still think with, if Frank Gregg goes to a situation where he has a quarterback who's like 27 years old and in his prime, what could it end up looking like? I still think it could look pretty good. So, so I'm going to, I'm going to grant you this. So I called up Carson Wentz's year by year for his career, okay? And of course, the 2017 season, you know, was his best one. But in 2019, his second to last season with the Eagles, he had a pretty good year. It's going to sound very familiar to you, Robert.

27 touchdowns, seven interceptions, you know, 0.05 EPA per pass play. Okay? So then he has the crater year with the Eagles. Terrible. Almost as many interceptions of touchdowns falls off. Well, in 2020... Took 50 sacks. Yeah, in 2021 at the Colts, he goes back to exactly what he was in 2019, 27 touchdowns, seven interceptions, pass a rating within one point, EPA per pass play right there, 0.02 is 0.05 before.

EPA per pass attempt within a hundredth of a tick, okay? The sack numbers within five, the sack percentage within a tenth. I mean, you can't, you couldn't tell them apart. If I put these two next to each other and blind tested you, you, me, the head of Elias Sports Bureau, Brian Burk, ESPN, anybody couldn't tell you what year was what. They're identical. So I will say, Frank Wright got not the very best Carson Wentz, but the pre-what-the-hell happened to this player version. He got that. So we can grant him that and say that that's probably as good as Carson Wentz is ever going to look again, wouldn't you say? Yeah. And I think that's the argument for

would you let him work with your quarterback if you feel a little bit better about that quarterback? or if you're a team, I don't know, if you're Carolina, right, and you're looking for a head coach and you know you're about to pick in the top three and you're going to get a quarterback. Would you be okay with having Frank Reich oversee that quarterback? I don't know. I don't know the answer to that. Yeah. Now, the selection of that quarterback and deciding who I want to be quarterback with and deciding how I'm going to hold that quarterback accountable, it's felt to me a little partnershipy. for players who have something to prove.

Now, Frank Reich may have a great way to discuss that and certainly knows more about coaching the quarterback position than I'm ever going to know. But I was really struck listening to him in the locker room yesterday or after the game talking about kind of going to bat for Matt Ryan. And I feel like some accountability and public accountability isn't always a bad thing. And I don't know that I've felt that.

there's been all of a sudden accountability. You're out of here, Wentz, and you feel like it's the owner. You're out of here, Matt Ryan, and you feel like it's the owner. So that would be maybe potentially one component that I would ask him about if I was, you know, going to try to make that decision. Hey, what did you learn through this experience? What do you think you did wrong, could have done better? Because I do think from talking to him and being around him a little bit that he's smart guy

who is good at coaching the quarterback and would be honest in his own evaluation. All right, let's talk about the Titans here a little bit. There's not much to say about the Titans except the Titans always just do this. The Titans are always just winning games and winning enough games to win the AFC South and win these ugly games and do just enough. When I watch the Titans right now, obviously they're still able to run the ball. I'm going to say fairly efficiently, but it's not that efficient. They run the ball like just enough.

Like the foundation of their offense being Derek Henry in this downhill play action passing game is still what it is. And they get just enough out of that with pretty good quarterback play for the most part for Brian Tannahill to like be functional on offense. And then their defense does a lot of really good stuff. They make it hard on you no matter who's playing on the back end. Like their corners right now are a rotating group. Like Roger McCurry played on the outside for the majority of his snaps for the first time on Sunday.

They're still trying to figure that out. and they're consistently just making it difficult on the teams that they play against. They're just well-coached. They're really competitive. And they are navigating this kind of weird in-between season after trading AJ Brown better than I ever assumed that they would. And they deserve a ton of credit for how they navigate situations like this, situations like the cratering year last year because of the injuries, all of that stuff. And I think just at a certain point, like Mike Vrable's really, really good at getting the most out of the play. players on his team. Yep. I've talked to some people who played against them and even some of the

players that they, you know, they've had occasionally up front or other places on defense. You know, the eye test, you're like, huh? But the way they play, fundamentally perfect, just really well coached, really playing well together. They're great. We haven't seen it as much this year, but, you know, they're that great defensive front that gets you to jump at the opportune time. Their technique is really good. And then they do kind of have a knack. as a team for making the critical play in the critical time. And you watch the game. I'm watching that game yesterday.

And look, no one's scoring much. It's Ryan Tannihill doesn't look that good. I mean, shoot, he's thrown it out to the flat and the back has to reach and catch it at his shins. There's nothing where there's no wow factor. And then third quarter, minute three left, first and 10, plus 48. Tannhill's got Austin Hooper with a linebacker on him in a safety closing. and he puts it on him for a 23-yard gain, gets you into field goal range leading 13 to 7.

It's just one of the plays in the game. No one's going to put that on and say, hey, did you see that amazing play that Tanyhill made? But it was the perfect play at the perfect time. Later in the fourth quarter, 533, 3rd and 6, minus 44, you're up 16 to 10. There's a, I think it's Hooper again, makes that double catch.

I mean, it's like that would have been, one of those hospital balls 10 years ago because the safety would have, whoever was coming in would have just earhold him, but instead that guy's going for the ball. Double catch gets it and you're like, wow, that's exactly what we needed with 533 left on 3rd and 6. And then

two minutes left, fourth quarter, they're up 19 to 10, second and 8, Henry pops one for 21 and we're kneeling down. I mean, it's just a great situational football when they had to have a play, they make it. This team just doesn't have much a receiver.

They're relying on Robert Woods, even Traylon Burks has hurt. They're throwing the ball to Jacob Hollister and Austin Hooper and whoever's playing tight end for them. Dennis Daly is their left tackle. Their past protection in normal dropback situations is really rough right now. And they're just making just enough plays. I just don't know what to make of them in the long term. I don't know what the next phase of this looks like in 2023 when it's about more than

winning a shitty AFC South and getting bounced in the wild card round. but at a certain point, who cares? We'll figure that out in 2023. They're doing just enough yet again to win this awful division when everyone else is either getting excited about the Colts in the preseason like I am or getting excited about the Jaguars over the first month because they're doing some things and looking like they have a pulse. When in reality, this Titans team is just going to keep doing this nonsense

and they're going to keep being relevant in this division until someone takes it away from them. And that's at a certain point, like that's just how it's going to be. And almost no one in the league can explain it. They just default to Vrable. Well, really well coached Vrable. And I kind of right there with them because I think you can pick apart some of the moves. They make a lot of the moves. And you can look at the roster and you can have concerns here, there.

You can say what you want about Tanahill. You can say about trading A.J. Brown. And I agree. I'm with you. They're not going to go to the Super Bowl. But they are just a tough, tough team. They did scare me with that handoff to Malik Willis. I don't know if you caught that one.

That was, I mean, you almost lose that game because of that. You can't walk and that got a little cute. But, you know, I'm sure it looked good on the whiteboard or whatever on Thursday. And they probably, maybe they busted it. We're going to bust it. But that was about the only thing I could really fault them for in that situation, leading 16 to 7 with a first and 10 from the plus 44. So.

The one stat I did want to throw out, they are second in the NFL this season, an EPA per dropback on defense on third down. quarterbacks have a 34.5 pass a rating against them on third down this season. Yes, and they had some games, Robert, where the other team was like one of 11 on third down. I noticed that earlier. They, and they're not blitzing a ton. They have one of the lowest blitz rates in the lead, but they bring a lot of simulated pressures. They just make it hard on you.

And that's what they were on defense last year. They didn't necessarily have the best personnel all over the place, but the bones of what they are on defense, all the different coverages they play. When they're playing on the back end, you're not exactly sure what it is, who's coming and who's not. The way that it's structured is just there to make it difficult on you. And those are the results that they're getting on third down. And I think that Shane Bowen deserves a lot of credit over the last couple of years for what

that defense has looked like with him in charge. And I think similar to Vrabel and similar to everything else, the staff in general, they are consistently just putting their guys in a spot to like, all right, we're going get the most out of you. I don't know what that looks like based on the guys that we have right now, but we're going to get the most out of this group as a whole. The whole is so much better than the sum of the parts with this team. And they've got a guy who lives in town there who, I don't even know that he's in the building every day. He's got a title. It's senior defensive assistant. His name's Jim Schwartz. He's very good at what he does. I think he's been a nice person to have

involved in what you're doing defensively with a little bit of an undefined role, but I think he's really good. And I think he's been there a couple of years. And I think that's probably a real nice asset for them. And you look at it, it's like a little bit of cover one, a little bit of cover two, a little bit of cover three, little quarters, little six, not blitzing a lot. And I wish we had like simulated pressure numbers that were available to us. Unfortunately, we don't have those.

I guarantee that they're up at the top because talking to defensive coaches this summer, several of them mentioned some of the things that the Titans were doing in some of those moments. And we talked last week about how prevalent that idea and bringing a non-traditional four and not blitzing but still making it a little bit uneasy on the offense. The Titans have been doing that for the last couple seasons. And I think they're getting a lot out of it. So credit to them because they deserve a lot of credit for how they've been able to sustain this, even with a lot of questions about their personnel and whether they, who they have on both sides of the ball.

All right, let's get to our next one here. Dolphins and Steelers, Tua returns. Dolphins end up pulling out an ugly one. Your initial impressions about the Dolphins' offense with Tua back in the fold here. Okay, so I think there's two lenses to look this through and I think I'm shifting away from the big picture lens of, hey, is Tua going to be here next year? What's this going to look like? How are we building your team around them? I think that's the wrong lens to look at it for when you have a player coming

off the concussion, the investigation. We were just concerned about his well-being. So for me, just seeing him out there, seeing him play a whole game, seeing a couple times when he, you know, ran and dove for extra yardage, one time kind of unnecessarily taking a little bit of contact there. I thought that in itself was a positive for them. Now, everyone's going to focus on the 38 balls that could have been intercepted. Totally understand it.

I think that's a fair thing to talk about. Certainly, I'm sure he's heard about that at this point, but they finished this game with 10 explosive pass games, meaning they passed the ball and they gained more than 15 yards. That's the most for a Dolphins team since 2012 Week 4 against Arizona, 165 games. And it didn't really feel like that at all. But I think that's a great sign for an offense. trying to have some continuity, build something with Tua, get some consistency. Yeah, he's not

amazing, but he's pretty darn accurate for the most part. And for all the ones that could have been picked off, I starred two plays, Robert. So 10-54 left, first quarter, second and three from the plus eight. He puts it on Micaseki's helmet, hits him in the face. I don't know if the ball was tipped or something. He hit the guy in the face. Beautiful, right in there. There wasn't much room. Hit him in the face. Didn't catch it. Tough. 939 second quarter, second and seven, minus 40. It looks like Tua just flat misses Tyreek Hill. But for whatever reason, Hill slowed his route, sort of the throttle it down. I don't know what was going on.

By the time he tried to get the ball and went right in front of him. And I couldn't tell for sure, but it looked like it could have been one of those. He just boom, goes out the back door big game. So you throw those couple misses, 10 explosive plays. Yes, the ball was pinballing around too much. But from where he was at two weeks ago, we're on the next week for me. How about you? I kind of feel like, and Mike McDaniel said this today,

the timing on some of those yak opportunities was off yesterday, and you could feel that. And this is the guy that hasn't played in a couple weeks. So the idea that the timing is a little bit off does make sense to me. For whatever this version of the offense is, I still think that the way they've constructed this, with him just peppering the ball into open space because of the juice and the motion

and all of the different things they have to make defenses uneasy, I still think that he can be a pretty good point guard of this offense. The problem is in those moments where he's a little bit inaccurate or the decision-making is bad, that's the problem because he is still physically limited. He is always going to be physically limited as a quarterback. So the precision and the timing and getting everything out of those short-to-intermediate throws, that always has to be precise for them to reach their ceiling as an offense as long as he's their quarterback.

So if that stuff isn't going to be there, that's where I get concerned. But if you have confidence about the timing and the precision and all of those aspects being better as he's back for a little bit longer, and all he needs to do is keep the train on the tracks because the skill position talent is so dynamic, then I can understand being bullish about that kind of eventuality. Totally. This is a guy who didn't play golf for a month and then went out to the first tee without hitting a bucket and we're like, yeah, you were not in your rhythm. I felt like that completely. Now, early on, I thought they had some nice stuff going in the run game. I thought his mechanics were good. Great deception by him.

Kahn out his fakes. He was really on point with one of the zone read plays, good decision there. So I saw a little bit of that, and then it was a little bit scattered shoot after that. But I see no reason to think that without, you know, a little bit more that some of those points will come together. I do think he's accurate. You know, we do believe that. Maybe that was a little off at times yesterday. but I think that's his strength.

That's what he can do well. And we can talk later for me about, you know, the limitations and all that and what other opportunities I might have for a different quarterback. I just kind of want to see him play week to week. And that's a test for him to pass too because he hasn't been able to do that. I just wonder what their ceiling is in the short term. And the only reason it's really that important is because what are they going to do in the long term?

Do they want to commit to him? Is he going to be the guy? It feels like we're trending to a place where if it continues at this rate, he's absolutely going to be their quarterback next year. He's got a $9.6 million cap hit next year. They have right now, as of this moment, before doing anything, they have about $18.8 million in cap space. They no longer have two first round picks, but they still have a first round pick. So they have a chance to kind of keep building this thing up around them with the receiving talent that they've already added. So with one more offseason, with their defensive backs being healthier than they are right now, what does this team ultimately look like?

So I think that I'm still ultimately bullish on the way that they've built this thing. And I do think that last night, even with some squandered opportunities, is kind of one more step in that direction. Yep. And this is one of those where right now it can be, oh, geez, what are they going to do? But it'll resolve itself. There's a lot of time left. He's either going to play all the games and it's going to look pretty good, or he's going to play the games. doesn't look that good, or he's going to miss some of the games, right? It'll answer itself.

I think that's why you need the rest of the season to make that decision. And so far, the answer is he hasn't been able to be on the field. So that's the number one concern for him first. With the Steelers, I definitely have my concerns about where things are right now, right? I mean, just you have Kenny Pickett, and a lot of people were saying this last night. I think it is, I think it's right. Kenny Pickett is somebody who wasn't necessarily a high ceiling prospect because he doesn't have overwhelming physical tools. And he wasn't really pro-ready because a lot of the work he did at Pitt was him making plays out of structure and making plays on the move and kind of being an improvisational

quarterback. But the problem is he doesn't really have the tools to be that sort of quarterback in the NFL, but he's also not somebody that you can drop into a well-constructed system and just have him run it right away. This is also not a well-constructed system. So there are just so many aspects of this from like, I don't know what he's supposed to be right now. And I don't know what sort of changes you have to make to get the most out of him over the next two years. And I think those are the sort of questions that the Steelers have to start answering for themselves.

I agree completely. I mean, do you think they're going to have the same offensive coaching next year? They can't. Based on the way this is going, they can't. But I don't really, I don't necessarily know the best system to put him, in or what you want to get out of him. He can make some plays. He made some plays with his legs yesterday.

Some of the best things that he did. But for the most part, he looks like a guy who really can't win the same ways in the NFL that he won in college. So how is he going to find ways to win? And I just don't know the answer to that. And I don't know if they do. I think they need a plan for that. We've talked to this before with Pittsburgh. It's a little bit of a time of transition.

They're a new general manager. Like we said, we think there would be new. offensive coaching. They're obviously in a new quarterback world right now. And I, sometimes if you can't tell what the plan is from the outside, that's telling, right? Yeah, I just don't, if you're going to draft this guy in the middle of the first draft, and there was going to be any sense that he could play in year one because he was going to be the better option than Mitchell Chubisky, which isn't necessarily saying a lot, did we really think that just rolling it back with Matt Canada was the right plan for a rookie quarterback that you thought might have a chance to play.

No, but things get done for the wrong reasons all the time in the NFL. So let's say you had concerns after last season if you're Mike Tomlin. You pull the plug after one year. You're admitting a big mistake if you do that. Not everybody likes to do that. I'm not saying that's the case there, but that's a guy gets a second year. That type of stuff happens. It's not always evaluated on what absolutely positively should be done.

I think it's unfortunate, but it's a reality of all of our worlds at all. of our jobs, that not everything gets done for the right reasons when they should get done. And here they are. In the most optimized way. In the most optimized way. That's just the way of the world. I would love to hear Mike Tomlin articulate to me why those decisions were made over the last two years, right? After you're moving on from Randy Fickner, and I get that, you know, Randy Fickner was the

offensive coordinator for the Steelers because he was Ben Rothersberg's guy. and the continuity there made sense. He was going to elevate Randy because he's worked with Ben forever and you can still have the same bones at the same offense with the quarterback who's been there for 15 years. But then was it necessary to elevate the quarterback coach who was there already, who was a college offensive coordinator

that didn't really have a ton of success? You couldn't have gotten out and maybe hired someone that was like a proven NFL guy and tried to bring him in. And then when it didn't go well last year, was there any argument for why the structure of last year's offense needed to be what you had in place for the quarterback plan this year? I would love to know the reasoning behind how all these decisions were made. I think instead you're going to get some platitudes or you're going to get some general statements. I would love to see that interview as well where he were to go into detail and explain exactly why. But that's just not Mike Tom when.

He's not going to do that. what do you think the answer is? Like, did you think there's any, I would love to hear the rationalization from your side of it? Robert, I wish I could explain it. I wish Tomlin would explain it. Maybe Ben Rathesberger will come to one of the games and explain it to everybody. I'm at a little bit of a loss to feel exactly what the plan was. Like I said, I have felt there in a little bit of a transition period where Kevin Colbert stayed through the draft.

They made the selection. Maybe we need to go back and listen to the draft. commentary. Maybe that was when everybody was most honest on the day after they selected them, everyone was excited because it doesn't make a ton of sense to me overall. I think there are a lot of other teams around the league that are being really intentional about why they're doing certain things around the quarterbacks that they have. And these could be quarterbacks that don't even exist. You know, I know that people are all down on the Falcons for throwing the ball 13 times

while down two scores against the Bengals. the Falcons didn't draft Drake London and Kyle Pitts so that Marcus Mariotta could throw the ball 50 times a game. I understand it's frustrating to watch in real time, but this is a 2023 sort of thing. They're trying to put the pieces in place here to build the infrastructure for the quarterback that they're eventually going to draft. And I think a lot of teams are doing that. The Lions are doing that right now, where you have the line and they're drafting Jamison Williams. I think Ben Johnson has done a very good job as the Lions offensive coordinator. So you're trying to build these infrastructures and these little ecosystems for the quarterback.

You're like, when we drop this guy in here, this is going to be great. And the stewards have a receiving talent. Like that part is in place. But the play calling infrastructure part of this was not, did not receive the same sort of attention and received the same sort of thought that it probably should have if you're going to draft a guy in the first round. And I think that disconnect is what I'm staring at right now. and I think that disconnect is what has to change.

All right, let's move on to our next game here. We'll talk about the Cowboys and the Lions. Dax's return for Dallas. What did you think of Dax's first game back? Well, I didn't like the first play roll out to the left throw across our body. I mean, then I was like, shoot, are they going to really try to, you know, Mahomesify this offense here on the first way out? But overall, I was fine with it. I would have liked some more scoring early on offense to take control.

I think they would have just blown this out. about 48 to 3, if that had happened. It didn't happen. I think both teams had turnovers in deep and plus territory. But I, from a DAC standpoint, I thought he was accurate. He seemed to make good decisions with the ball, not just on passes, but also the zone read. They popped a big game with Tony Pollard there.

That was a nice play by him. You wouldn't know it because of the flow of the game and the score being low, but the Cowboys in this game finished with season highs for completion rate. yards per pass attempt, pass a rating, EPA per pass attempt, average air yards in relation to the sticks. For the first time this season, they were over 50% on my old Let Russ Cook Index, just measures how often you pass on early downs in the first 28 minutes of the game, you know, before we get into two minute and second halves where the score differential matters. So there were some shifts in that direction. I thought in all they stayed in their same philosophy. This is a defense. team, they told us. I think they did that. I think DAC upgrades the quarterback position within that. And then we'll just have to see as they get, you know, against better teams or the defense has a

bad day. I'm still not sure what the ceiling is for the offense. I think they could use a weapon, but glad to have Dak back. I thought it was a nice stress-free game for him, which quarterbacks love. I was fascinated to see. There was some calls to the... the Cowboys coaching staff coming into Dax's return. All right, the stuff you were doing for Cooper Rush, pressing the easy buttons for Cooper Rush, why don't we do some more of that with Dack that we haven't done over the last couple years? And they did.

Dack used play action on 52% of his attempts yesterday. They were under center on 57.6% of his snaps, both considerably higher than what they were last year or Dax's time with Kellan Moore and Mike McCarthy. He was 11 of 13 for 121 yards off play action yesterday. And watching that version of the offense, based on who they are and their ability to run the ball a little bit, I think it makes a lot of sense. So this version of them, just with Dak and the Cooper Rush role, I think has a chance to be a pretty tough out for teams in the NFC. Absolutely. But we also saw glimpses first quarter, 106, second and eight, Dak rolls right, throws a strike to CD Lamb, gain in 24.

he's jumping and delivers the ball 32 yards from where he throws it, not past Llanosk, but 32 yards on the money with two defenders closing, not a Cooper Rush play. So we saw some of that. That's exactly right. But it wasn't about that. What you're saying is 100% true. It wasn't about that. But you had to look to see that that is there. I thought for his first game out, you know, he looked better in his first game back for many weeks than two it probably did, right? He looked strong, he looked good to me. I was fine with it, but I'm glad they stayed in their structure of knowing, hey, we're a defensive team. That's a luxury for the quarterback.

It's not about Russell Wilson. It's not about Dak Prescott. It's about the team. And when you start to lose sight of that, you do things for the wrong reasons. Yes, the quarterback's important. There's going to be a day where they need Dak to put it on his shoulders. We don't know for sure how that's going to go. but do what's best for the team.

And that defense is so good and so legit now that you can do it and no one's asking about it. No one's talking about, oh, the offense only did this or that. Who cares? They choked out the Detroit Lions on TV. Pretty good. I think that his decision making left a little bit to be desired on some of those throws. That's okay. You know, again, first game back.

But I love the overall just formula that they're trying to lean on. Another guy I wanted to point out on the offensive side of the ball. And they could absolutely use better weapons outside of CD Lamb. And even with Michael Gallup back, I feel like one more kind of guy in the passing game. A guy maybe built like a Mari Cooper might be fairly helpful to who they would be right now. Yeah. And I know he had a fumble yesterday inside the five. I know who you're talking about.

Noah Brown made like three or four plays in this game. As a receiver, like on a contested catch on a comeback, he had a big block on an he inserted on Tony Pollard's huge run, just like right in the B gap, muscleing people up. He's just been somebody that has given them a decent amount this year. And at a certain point, the coaching staff on this team and the personnel staff on this team deserve credit for their ability to consistently do this. They consistently have found these guys on both sides of the ball where it's like, man, that guy's playing pretty well right now.

like Doran's Armstrong is playing pretty well right now. Like Donovan Wilson had a couple moments yesterday where he's playing pretty well for them. This happens a lot in Dallas and has over the last couple years. And I think that their ceiling offensively presented itself last year and was frustrating. But what they've been able to do was kind of the underlying pieces on this roster, I think is consistently impressive. And I think it's put them in the position that they're in right now where they're five and two, they're going to be a playoff team.

And I think that they're going to be a pain in the ass for whoever they have to play in the playoffs. It's a really good point. I had made a note on Noah Brown, too. You know, and it's unfortunate he got cartwheeled on that one there late in the second quarter. But a great play down inside the five. Dak had another throw to him, you know, to the wide side of the field connected. I think he referenced that. So that was very nice for them.

I agree with you. I think this team's just in a pretty comfortable spot. I was kind of looking at the schedule, you know, to see, hey, because we don't know what we'll talk about Detroit. I don't know what they are, but, you know, is there going to be a point in this season where they, where the Dallas Cowboys, beneficiaries of playing in the East have to really step on the gas pedal? And we would have normally thought that would be Green Bay in week 10, but we'll see, you know, the Packers may disband and close their franchise by then. You know, is it Minnesota at Minnesota? Maybe that's a game where it gets a little bit, but I don't know. I mean, how many games on this schedule, Philly?

Philly's there in week 16. That's their big test. But there's teams on this. And what do they look like against Philly with deck? I think that is going to be the big question. That's a great question. And they get that one at home. And there will be expectations.

And as we know, Cowboys with expectations hasn't always been a great thing. So maybe this defense is a great stabilizer for that. And we'll see how it grows on offense. Jerry Jones, by the way, said probably not making a trade. I think they need to. I think they could use a weapon. I think you've got a top five, top three defense. you've got enough some pieces on offense but man if they could get a guy if they could get

you know one more piece in the receiving game be very happy and then not feel pressure that they have to use it all the time and change your formula yeah they like that's a really good point Dalton Schultz is a little bit banged up you know obviously he hurt his knee again yesterday on that awkward I hated that I got to I have to think about what what names it would be like if Chase Claypool is really available And if you could trade like a third round pick for Chase Claypool and the Steelers would be down to do that, is that somebody who could help this team? Like, what would that person look like? I'd be interested to see them with one more piece.

I really would be. Yeah. And the makeup of that person and the understanding they would have to have that this is a team you're coming into. We're not now just going to throw it all the yard. There may be a game where you have two cuts just for 28 yards. Tough. But we're going to try to win and we're going to need you in one of the two of these games and especially in the playoffs when we really have to push it. And wouldn't you regret not doing that if such a move were available to you?

Easy for me to say, I'm not naming a name, but that's the job of the front office personnel department. All right. Let's talk about the lions a little bit because the lions are now one in five. Okay. We had all these warm feelings about the lions coming into the season. And I do think a lot of those warm feelings extended into the early part of the year. They were a top five offense by EPA and DVOA for the first several weeks of the season. The offensive line was doing great stuff.

We were raving about the structure of their running game. They had all these explosive plays. I'm on Ross St. Brown. He was really developing to a star level player. And now the last two weeks, they lay an egg on offense. I know that St. Brown got hurt again in this game. We can make excuses if we want to. Swift got to play.

Swift didn't play. Again, there's plenty of stuff. At a certain point, when do the good feelings have to turn into more wins? Is that necessary? Should it be necessary this year? Or is this still something where we can talk ourselves into? You know what? They need a quarterback.

They're going to get a top three pick. If they get one, they drop him into the situation. They drafted Jameson Williams knowing it was a long-term thing. You can start to, again, talk yourself into the idea of this being a multi-year solution. and the wins and losses, maybe not being the most important factor here. The plant needs water along the way. You can't just have no water. And I feel like through the force of his personality, Dan Campbell has helped to inspire some belief there.

But you have to back it up with some results. I think early in the year, they almost beat the Eagles. They beat Washington. They were right there in a couple other games, the Seattle game. But when you're losing 29-0 to New England and 24 to 6, and when you have to pass, they're just sack fumbling you, like literally lunch money stealing on one of the plays

in the game yesterday, took the ball away. Like walked up and took the ball away. That is humiliating. That is hard to rally from. That is hard to have the Dan Campbell identity. They went into the game and just tail between legs. We're going to run the bow in third and seven. And if we have to pass in a peer-pass situation late in the game,

we get zero chance. So I felt some of that's the matchup. They played two tough defenses, but you've got to get some results along the way. This can't be a two and 15er. It's just too hard. And you watch Dan Campbell up there. He struggles with that. He's emotional.

Yeah, they didn't get great play out of Taylor Decker yesterday. Dan Skipper and some of those six offensive linemen sets me, he gave up a pretty bad sack. So there are some moments where it's like, guy, you get a little bit better play here. So I don't know where I stand on it. I still think that if you're talking yourself into the actual structure of it and the long-term outlook, are they going to be able to do enough on offense where you're still optimistic by the end of the season based on the players that they have? I still tend to say yes. And then on defense, like, Akuta looked good again yesterday.

It was the best game of Aidan Hutchinson's career. He had two legit sacks in that game, not just clean up sacks like a lot of his others have been this season. So it's like, all right, if we can start to find some building blocks, I understand it's probably really frustrating. But at the same time, it's like, eh, you know, this is always going to be about 2023. It was always supposed to be about 2023. Did we start to get a little bit ahead of ourselves? And is that initial excitement what's coloring the disappointment now that they're losing some of these games?

I think if I'm trying to sell it a little bit, I would say, look, this is a 10 to 6 game. I mean, look, it turned a couple of times with the turnover here or there, but it was a very close game for a lot of the way. The A. Hutchinson point is great. They let him rush from a two-point stance yesterday. That hasn't been what he's been doing earlier. It is what he did at Michigan. I think that's how he's most comfortable. Boom.

Sack and a half, 17% pressure rate really went nicely for him. So I think if you can, are they getting James and Williams in there too at some point? When's that happening? I think it's later in the season. I mean, I think that was always the idea. So what I want to see is some of the people that you've prioritized there emerging and having the types of seasons that you thought they were going to have. And hopefully, you know, not having to play a New England or Dallas type of team that can

have a great defensive plan or both of those are on the road, by the way, too. So they just have to get enough results along the way to chart your progress. Otherwise, it becomes hollow talk at a certain time. So, you know, we'll see. Their offensive line, pretty good in the run game. Do they go play Miami this week and get it done at home? I think they need to. One more thing I wanted to mention from this game,

talk about the kind of lack of results from Dallas and the disconnect you were talking about between their efficiency throwing the ball and why they didn't score that many points. Two of six on third and short in this game. So they really struggled on third down in this game, especially in short-yard situations. I think they had three third and ones that they didn't end up converting. And that explains the difference. It's an inability to sustain drives.

and an inability to sustain drives in situations where most of the time you're going to be able to get that yard. So if you're trying to, again, build an optimistic case for why they can score more than 20 points. If Dak looked that good in his return, I think that's part of it. Yep. I think it's a good point. All right. Last one here. Ravens at Browns.

Ravens go to four and three. Browns go to two and five. You want to start with the call at the end? Let's start at the call at the end because I've watched just about a thousand times. So what we're talking about is Ravens are up 23 to 20. That's the final score of the game to end up winning. And the Browns, though, are moving into position for a longer field goal. They're going to line up for a 55-yard field goal, I believe, with about 2-10 left in the game.

I think they're above the two-minute warning. And then crazy things happen. There's a false start penalty that is attributed in the game book to number 68 left guard Michael Dunn. They asked Michael done about these. I don't think I moved. I agree with him. I watched it. Didn't move.

The defensive left side jumped across the line. When this happens, if you watch the film of it, number 36, Chuck Clark is who's standing behind his own defensive line of the Ravens with a clear view of the center, who has to be uncovered now under the current rules, he turns around and he's pissed off. Oh, I can't believe we jump. So he thinks his guys jumped across. But then if you look over to the.

defensive right side, you see Gino Stone, number 26 over there. And he immediately turns to the officials and does like a hiking motion. You know, like if you asked a six-year-old, how do we hike? He would do like his hands, hike, hike. He's feverishly telling the official, the snapper moved the ball. That's what John Harbaugh said. Kevin Stefanski, coach of the Browns, denied that. But I agree with John Harbaugh.

If you look at the center, a little bit of a movement there. If you look, he just lifted that ball a little bit, and that's when the guys came across. So now your 55-yard field goal turns into 60. They actually didn't move the hold back the full eight yards. They kept it at midfield, so a little bit shorter there. They get it blocked, and it's another frustrating Browns lost and a close game that they thought they might have a chance for. I just don't know what to make of either of these teams right now. The Ravens, their passing game looks awful.

They just had an inability to consistently move the ball through the air yesterday. I know Andrews was hobbled, and it's not like they have a plethora of receiving options outside of him. But yesterday, a lot of their gains in the passing game were like desperation plays combined with some of the chunks they got in the running game. So the Ravens' offense just feels like it's stalled out to a certain degree outside of, all right, Lamar, like, we're just going to roll the ball out and see what you can do. And then the Browns are in this place where the offense has looked fine under Jacoby percent. I think it still did yesterday. You know, they stalled out on some drives.

They had a sack that ended up kicking them out of field goal range. They fumbled down in the red zone. I just don't know what either of these teams are going to be this season. I really don't. Yeah. So this was the type of game that Cleveland thought they might be able to win as they sort of held serve waiting for Sean Watson to come back, okay? And look at this game. So I looked at this statistically. The Browns won the game in defensive and defensive EPA. They won in both of

those, okay? So teams over the last four years are 364, 14 and 2 when they win both offense defense EPA. The only way you can lose that is if special teams EPA swings it, which usually special teams, it's in there, but it's not one-third of the game. well the Ravens were a touchdown better on special teams in this game and that's what allowed them to win the game so when you look at the Tucker hitting from 55 yards you look at Duverne with the 46 yard return there was a lot of those little plays on the special teams component not to mention the obviously the penalty on a special team's play that took away that little edge that Cleefa needed to get out of this and say hey look it's not always pretty but we're just

getting through these. We've won two out of three of these type games now, and we're just, you know what? We could be six and five when Deshaun comes back. Well, that's going to be really hard to do when you lose these types of games. And so I think I don't have as much of a problem with Cleveland overall, because it's all about when Deshawn Watson comes back and he's got to elevate him. It's just hard to lose when you win the statistical battle on both sides of the ball. There's that third side, but both sides of the ball. I mean, like I said, it's, it's, it's It's very uncommon to lose a game like that. And so frustrating for them.

For the Ravens, I mean, I'm with you on the passing game. By the way, Mark Andrews, nice job under center. You see him go under center and picks like a toss sweep. They're lucky that the snap didn't break his finger. That would be classic Ravens about right now that he'd be out for like two weeks. But you see flashes. You know, I think Lamar Jackson, when he, when his mechanics, are great can really, that's true for most quarterbacks, but if you go first quarter,

538, second and six, midfield, great mechanics, set his feet, not up on his toes, perfect ball, duverine, 31-yard gain, there's flashes of that, there's not enough consistency of that. And not a football coach, but I think it's the consistency of those mechanics are really important. I think that's the next step for him to make. We can talk about the offense and what needs to be done is the Roman scheme, do we need to do this, do we need more weaponry? Some of those things could all be true. But I think for him, just becoming more consistent in his fundamentals will help them a great deal in some of those tough third down situations, consistency drive-to-drive, especially in the absence of some of those other things. I think we see this a little bit,

even with a much more accomplished quarterback like Aaron Rogers. Things have fallen apart a little bit around Aaron Rogers. Well, now it's not okay to be the fade-away jump shooter who dirt the screen in the flat. You have to hit all of those now more consistently because the margin for air is smaller. And so that's where I think I would love to see, like I mentioned on Rogers, but I'd love to see it with with Lamar Jackson. I don't know if it would be enough to overcome, but I think it would help them on some of those plays that sustained drives. Yeah, I want to watch the All-22 of this game and just more of the Ravens passing game from that perspective just to see what's going on with them right now.

it just feels ugly. And it just feels like all this heavy personnel that they have. And like the pieces I just not sure fit with what you need to be to throw the ball consistently in 2020. And we probably knew that coming in. But the running game is not devastating enough combined with a complimentary passing game right now for them to be a potent offense with this current construction. No matter how well Lamar is playing. Yep. Yep.

they did have a drive late in the game where they ran the ball 10 times in 12 plays, including eight times in a row. That includes some quarterback runs, and they just fumble at the end of it. So if they don't fumble at the end of that, they probably punch it in. Maybe they punch it in and they went 30 to 20. And people go, yeah, you know, it wasn't as pretty as we wanted it to be, but, you know, a nice touchdown passed by Lamar to finish off that run heavy driver or whatever. So it's not quite as far away as sometimes it seems.

I think some of these little things. But when I watch Lamar at the end of the first quarter and he's his, he's thrown, and he's waving the ball around with one hand. Well, guess what? Fourth quarter against the Giants, that's the turnover. Those are the little things like that that are more important when it's harder to play offense because of personnel or whatever. I still have faith in their ability to kind of be hanging around there in the division and in the wild card race, right? Like I think in that division, since he's playing really, really well, and I think the Bengals may ultimately win the AFC. North, but if you look at the tier below that, can the Ravens be a team that fights for a wild

court or tries to win the division? I think the answer to that is yes. With the Browns, if they win some of those games that are close, if they win some of these coin flips and they do have a chance when Watson comes back to kind of make a push for it, I think that's kind of house money for what the season was supposed to be. Like where they're at right now, now it's just about 2023 when he plays an entire year. And that's not necessarily surprising. No. And if you look at, at their next four games, Cincinnati, by Miami Buffalo and who knows what Tampa will be by them. But, you know, there's not a lot of easy checkmark wins when you're playing the way they have to play, especially with some of the issues they have on defense. So I think it looks

like they're not going to be in a position to rally and catch a, you know, wild card or something unless something changes in a hurry. All right. I think that's all we got for this week. We'll be back next week with another slate of games. In the meantime, if you guys would, please listen to the football GM on Thursdays with Mike and Randy Mueller. That's where you can find that. Started last week,

excited to have it on Thursday morning throughout the rest of this season. Also, you guys could subscribe to our YouTube channel. The link is in the description of this podcast. We're doing a lot more stuff on YouTube this year. So if you have not subscribed, I would encourage you to go do that. Please subscribe to The Athletic.

Theathletic.com slash football show where you can find Mike Sandow's pick six column and all of our wonderful NFL coverage. We will be back on Wednesday. Until then, appreciate you guys listening. Talk to you soon. This was the Athletic Football Show.